News |On Climate Strike
Stefanie de Velasco stopped writing. She went on strike for the climate. Weekdays from 9 am to 1 pm she sits at Pariser Platz in front of the Akademie der Künste (AdK) in Berlin. Next to her hangs a poster with the words “German Writer on Climate Strike” on it. At this time of day, the author and Villa Aurora Fellow would normally be at the Library, working on a new novel. But that, she explains in her strike diary on the website of her publishing house, would feel as meaningful as texting for fortune cookies. “I live in a twisted world: the reality is more overwhelming than I can imagine. In such a situation it makes no sense for me to sit down and write fiction.”
In the current situation Stefanie sees the irony (or rather tragedy) that she herself grew up in a community in which the end of the world as an omnipresent threat was always just around the corner. She grew up amongst Jehovah's Witnesses, from which she had to liberate herself with great effort. Through her current novel “Kein Teil der Welt”, she hoped to leave this threatening scenario behind her artistically. Instead, every day she reads new research from scientists from around the world, stating that humanity is closer to extinction than ever before. “I finished my novel, hoping my fears about the future would dissolve, because I often thought that it was just an overreaction of the alarm system that was imprinted on me during my childhood. But climate studies confirm: My alarm system is perfectly fine. Now I feel as if I’m stuck again with Jehovah's Witnesses.”
Weiterstreiken wird sie bis die Sicherheit ihrer Zukunft und die kommender Generationen auf diesem Planeten von der Politik ernst genommen wird, so steht es in ihrem Tagebuch. Wie lang das sein wird, kann sie nicht sagen. Sie habe keine Hoffnung, dass das bald der Fall sei.
According to her diary, she will continue her strike and refuse to write a new novel until the safety of her own future and that of future generations will be taken seriously. She has no idea when this might be. But she has no hope that it will soon be the case.
You can follow her strike diary here: t1p.de/klimastreiklogbuch
On Tuesday, November 26, Stefanie de Velasco celebrates the book premiere of KEIN TEIL DER WELT at Silent Green in Berlin. More information
Stefanie de Velasco, born in the Rhineland in 1978, studied European ethnology and political science. She regularly writes for the Berlin city magazine Zitty, for the FAS and ZEIT Online. In 2013 she released her debut novel TIGERMILCH, which was translated into numerous languages and got a film adaptation. De Velasco was a Villa Aurora Fellow in 2016.</ P>
